


Red Strings

by exitium



Category: Of Knights & Royalty, Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/M, Fluff, Original Character(s), Original Universe, Red String of Fate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:06:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24990529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exitium/pseuds/exitium
Summary: They both glance down at the red wound around their pinkies, connecting to each other. Runi lifts their hands, and together, they study it. It’s strange. It doesn’t feel like anything is around her pinky. But it does feel like something. It feels like Toni twining their pinkies together.
Relationships: Aconite/Runi, Antonius Vargus | Toni/Runi Fierran
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Of Knights & Royalty





	Red Strings

**Author's Note:**

> Aconite does not belong to me. He belongs to a friend, Mestia (:

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

“Is that you?” 

Runi felt him. 

It was brief in passing, but she felt him. The silk, the jingling of his jewelry, the smell of gunpowder and exotic, sharp spices… Electricity had raced down her spine the minute she _sensed_ him. Even if her mind is telling her that it’s not possible, Runi ignores rational thought and speaks aloud in her cottage, as if he’d hear.

Aconite has been away for weeks, now. He follows no schedule; Runi has no idea when he is to make his next visit, but she has no reason to doubt him. His motley crew- her _family-_ have his back and he has theirs. They brave the unpredictable seas and venture into places she’s only ever _dreamed_ of going: kingdoms of fairy tales such as Amoria, the mysteries in Somni, the pride and virtue of Etro- and whenever he returns, he returns with gifts. Dresses for her, rubies, brilliant material to tie into her hair, so on and so forth. 

So, again, it is impossible that he is here. 

“But I felt him,” she says, out loud and alone and utterly sure of herself. 

The night gazes at her expectantly from her open window, lace curtains like ghosts as they float about. The silence is so apparent, like it's asking for her to think clearly. _No one_ is here. Maybe she’s still dreaming. Her dreams mostly consist of him- surprising no one, of course. And what the hell, who can blame her? Patient, mysterious, a smile that knocks her off her feet… And alright, _fine._ He’s handsome. What’s she supposed to do! Not look? 

Even if he was insufferable at first, her heart and soul belongs to him. 

Her mind is on the fence, though. Her mind is saying, _You’re being ridiculous. You’re sleep deprived and you’re imagining things._

What was she doing up again, anyway? Oh, right. She heard one of her chickens making a ruckus. 

They have an open coop, see. Her chickens are well-behaved but sensitive- sometimes they get cold in the middle of the night, so they sneak into her cottage through the open window. Runi’s a natural heater. Phoenix blood and all, heat radiates from her skin when the temperature drops, and the chickens can sense that. Of course, they fly in. She’d wake up in the morning to thirteen chickens being a nuisance in her cottage and feathers in her mouth. 

But tonight, it’s only one. Clucky. He’s the most sensitive of her coop, the most cowardly. She has a soft spot for him. And she _knows,_ alright. She knows she’s not supposed to have a favorite, but one can only be human. Something about him is just so endearing. He’s pure white with splotches of black on his wings, and he’s always pecking nervously at something. 

But the rest of the coop hasn’t flown in, and there’s no wild dog lingering in her yard. So there must be _something._

She swears he has a seventh sense or something. Coming from Agria, a land of power and wonder, of _course_ Runi is a believer of magic. Non-believers still boggle her mind to this day, but she never considered that animals would be sensitive to such things _until_ she met Clucky. Whenever travelling magisters are nearby to receive the blessing of the Phoenix, Clucky is always at her side. He pecks at her thigh nervously when he knows they’re close. 

_Or maybe it’s because you’re both birds that he’s so drawn to you,_ her mind says. Runi ignores that.

Clucky flaps his wings and perches on the counter. His round, dark eyes blink at her. _“Cluck.”_

“Yeah, I know,” she murmurs. She picks him up and he settles down in her arms, nuzzling his beak into her elbow. “Did you feel it too?” 

“ _Cluck cluck. Cluck.”_

Wow _._ Low-blow. “I can’t believe you’d say that to me!” She gasps, shooting him an offended look. Clucky blinks up at her innocently. “ _Don’t_ give me that look. Of course I miss him, but I’m not crazy. I hate it when people say that about me…”

 _“Cluck cluck cluck._ ”

“Well-”

_“Cluck cluck. Cluck cluck.”_

“That’s not it at all!” Runi’s expression turns cross as she pouts out the window. Her chicken coop is quiet, that much she can see. Cluck and Cluckity and Cluck-Cluck are all sound asleep. Cluck is the only one awake, so that much means something, right? “If I was dreaming, then why are you here too? You felt it.” 

Maybe she _is_ going insane, but to say it wasn’t like Aconite... It was so undeniably _him._ Their moments, though brief, rushed through her when it brushed her side. The softest touch from him, the way he kisses her locks of hair, the way he smiles, his blue eyes she can never escape… Dreams could never replicate that. 

That was him. 

“I’m not going crazy,” she murmurs. “I know it’s him.”

It’s been ages since she’s used her powers, but something is telling her that she should. 

If she closes her eyes, the buzz of energy is still there. Blue and calming, she can even _see_ it- his aura, his soul- that’s what it looks like to her. And if she focuses, if she calls her magic to her, she can feel something calling out to her. 

As if something wants to draw her attention. There’s an overwhelming energy burning to be _seen_. So she closes her eyes and hones all her magic into the dark, reaching out to his aura. Her cottage, the world, Clucky and everything else fades in the background as her breaths even out.

A red string. 

“What…”

Aconite’s back. The red scarf, his coat, his hat. The way the sea breeze catches on his earrings, the way his shoulders are set. His hands in his pocket, the other hanging lazily at his side. His hand… 

_Focus,_ her mind whispers.

The rings. The shiny jewels. His pinky, wound up in red--

Something tugs at her pinky. 

Her heart flies to her throat as her eyes fly open, her body terrified. Goosebumps race down her arms as she whips her head around. 

“Toni?” She demands, breathless. 

Silence. 

Was that really nothing? No way. She saw and she smelled the sea, she saw his sun-kissed skin, so vivid and full of life like his paintings. Is this what they call the honeymoon phase? Is she _that_ badly in love with him that she can’t stand on her own without him? No, no. No. She can. He can. She misses him, she loves him, but she’s not going crazy. That _feeling,_ that tug on her…

… pinky. 

A red string. Wrapped around twice in the middle, bunny-eared. That wasn’t there before. The red string- the thing that wanted to be _seen._ The overwhelming energy calling out to her, the _thing_ Clucky must have sensed. Ha! See? She really isn’t insane! Runi raises it up and marvels in awe. And then it hits her.

The thing that was connected to Toni. 

“Runi?” 

She whirls around, and there he is. 

The world around them turns dark, but the essence is still there. She can smell seasalt and hear the distant cawing of seagulls. The dancing kisses of sunbeams on her skin is there, like she remembered. But it’s mixed with the atmosphere of her cottage, the smell of flour and baked bread and the earth. The cool whisper of the night. The blend is opposite but it’s pleasant. 

“I don’t believe it,” he murmurs. There’s astonishment in his eyes. “It really is you.”

She has so many things she wants to say. _I missed you. It’s so nice to see you. I hope you’re well. I hope you’re healthy. I hope you’re happy._ But the only thing she blurts out is, “Clucky thought I was going crazy.” 

Aconite blinks. It’s followed by a smooth, amused smile. With the slightest raise of his eyebrows, he hums; and he’s so used to this odd, strange world of only them already that he shoves his hands in his pockets and saunters forward. The distance grows shorter and shorter, and the burning realization that she missed him like crazy is like an ember into a wildfire. “Poor thing. Have you been thinking of me all this time?”

“Um-” Her voice comes out high-pitched, causing him to chuckle as he nears her. This… _space_ ha _s_ no walls, it’s just a void of darkness. But she feels as if she’s the stupid, unassuming bird and he’s the jungle cat, prowling forward and trapping her. Not that she’d ever complain. “Um, um. Yes. Yes I have. What of it? We’re together, of course I would. “

Aconite smiles. This time it’s less amused, but there’s mirth dancing in his eyes as he tilts her head up. “Of course. I thought of you too. There’s so much blue that I see, it makes missing the red of your hair that much easier. What have you done to me, I wonder.”

“What have you done to _me,_ ” she quips, pouting. “So it _was_ you. When I sensed you before. I knew it.”

“.. So it was. Then when I felt your red hair brush my skin, that was you, as well. I wasn’t dreaming.” 

Runi smiles. She leans forward, and their foreheads lock. Warm and sure, she can feel him as his hands find hers. “Poor thing. Were you thinking of me all this time?” 

“Mmm. You already know the answer to that, darling.” Aconite kisses her wide smile once. He tastes of something sweet, tangy, and fruity. “What do you suppose this means…? The red string.” 

They both glance down at the red wound around their pinkies, connecting to each other. Runi lifts their hands, and together, they study it. It’s strange. It doesn’t feel like anything is around her pinky. But it does _feel_ like something. It feels like Toni twining their pinkies together. 

“I think it means we have it bad for each other,” Runi concludes. That sounds right.

Aconite laughs, “Did we really need a magical red string to prove that? How it came to be is my question, as well. Which god decided to tie us both together?” 

“Hopefully one you can steal riches from.”

“My. Wouldn’t that be something.” 

“You _seem_ uninterested, but I know deep down you’re considering it.” 

“Mmm. Have me all figured out, do we? You’re cheating-”

“-I’m cheating by the string,” she laughs, “I was just about to say that. Whoa! I can finish your sentences. I’m cheating-”

“-You’re cheating by the string,” he chuckles. 

See? No one can blame her for falling so hard. For missing him so much. She would never want to take his life on the seas away from him, but she thinks of him, always. And she hopes whatever he’s doing out there that he’s happy. She’ll wait for him. She loves him. She can say it bravely and without shame- “I love you.” 

Just like that. 

“As I love you,” Toni says gently, cupping her cheek. “Are you busy for the night?”

“Not particularly. If you aren’t either, could you… Stay here, a little longer? I have so much I want to tell you.” 

“Is that right? Well, be my guest. I’ll barter for a story. In return, I’ll give you one of my own.” 

“Sounds great! Okay, so, there was this guy, right…” 

Though she doesn’t quite understand the nature of the red string, she can say for certain that it was just them in that dark space, filled only with their laughter. Her soul was looking for him, and he found her. The world slowed down for them as the night passed. 

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

Clucky flaps his wings. What the fuck. They haven’t even noticed him. 


End file.
